SeaChange International is promising to let cable operators bring graphically rich video-on-demand interfaces -- on par with today's Internet video services -- to subscribers with older set-tops, even those deployed more than 10 years ago.
The vendor's Nitro Now is an enhanced version of SeaChange's VODlink software, which powers the VOD guide for more than 5 million deployed set-top boxes. Nitro Now, which runs on Motorola Mobility and Cisco Systems set-tops, provides fast launch and screen rendering as well as high-resolution graphics, advanced search, discovery and previews, the company said.
According to SeaChange, several cable operators in the Americas, which it declined to name, are currently rolling out the Nitro Now software.
"Nitro Now is a pre-integrated software-only solution that deploys rapidly to help our customers totally innovate the subscriber experience on their set-top boxes," SeaChange executive director of product management Anthony Landamia said in a statement. "The effect is a completely contemporary experience that doesn't require a single truck roll even for homes that last received a new set-top during the 1990s."
According to SeaChange, Nitro Now experience will provide a migration path to IP-based whole-home services developed on the vendor's previously released Nitro multiscreen subscriber interface and Nucleus gateway software.
Nitro Now includes SeaChange's Watch & Buy T-commerce application, which lets operators offer subscribers point-of-purchase ordering of content and merchandise related to VOD movies and TV programs.
SeaChange plans to demo Nitro Now at the 2012 Cable Show, to run May 21-23 in Boston.
